New York Name Change: Court Petition, Fees, and Filing

Name changes are one of the identity-record procedures covered in New York vital records, IDs, and name changes. What follows is the adult court process under Civil Rights Law Article 6: which court takes the petition, what the petition has to disclose, what it costs, how a judge decides it, and what the order does once it is signed.

When New York requires a court order to change your name

New York has never required a court order to use a different name. N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 65(4) preserves the common law right of every person, married or single, to keep a name or assume a new one, as long as the new name is used consistently and without intent to defraud. The limit is practical rather than legal. Banks, schools, employers, and government agencies generally will not change a record without documentation, and a court order is the documentation they accept.

Two life events carry their own mechanism. A person marrying in New York may elect a new name on the marriage license under Domestic Relations Law § 15(1)(b), and a person whose marriage ends may resume a former surname or middle name under Domestic Relations Law § 240-a. Civ. Rights Law § 65(1)–(3) routes both situations to those statutes and gives the resulting name the same effect as an Article 6 order. Section 65(5) separately bars the state from charging any fee solely to change a surname or middle name on a license, permit, or registration after a change in marital status.

Everyone else files a petition: a person taking a name unconnected to marriage, a parent changing a child’s name, and anyone whose identification has to match a name already in use.

Where to file the name change petition

Under N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 60(1), a New York resident petitions the county court of the county, or the supreme court in the county, where the petitioner resides. A petitioner living in New York City has a second option: either the Supreme Court or any branch of the Civil Court of the City of New York, in any county of the city.

That choice is mostly about cost. The Unified Court System’s New York name change instructions put the court fee at $210 in Supreme and County Court and $65 in New York City Civil Court. A Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, or Staten Island resident who files in Civil Court therefore pays less than a third of what the same petition costs in Supreme Court.

A petition for a child under 18 may be brought by the child through a next friend, by either parent, by a general guardian or guardian of the person, or by the child’s attorney, all under § 60(1). Section 60(2) adds a narrow Family Court route: a child’s name change can be requested inside a pending, related Family Court proceeding, and that court may grant it only on the consent of all parties.

What the petition must contain

N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 61(1) requires a written petition, signed by the petitioner and verified the way a pleading in a court of record is verified. It states the grounds for the application; the name, date of birth, place of birth, age, and residence of the person whose name is changing; and the name to be assumed. The same subdivision requires disclosures on eight points: any criminal conviction or bankruptcy adjudication; any judgments, liens, or pending actions, described in enough detail to identify them; and, for child support and spousal support alike, whether the petitioner owes it, whether it is current, and the amount of any arrears with the issuing court and collection unit named.

Proof of birth is a separate requirement. Under § 61(3), a petitioner born in New York annexes a birth certificate, a certified transcript of it, or a certificate from the commissioner or local board of health stating that none is available.

1. Draft the petition and proposed order

   The two core papers are the petition and a proposed order for the judge to sign. The Unified Court System publishes free do-it-yourself programs and printable forms for the Supreme Court and NYC Civil Court versions on its name change forms page. They ask the questions Civ. Rights Law § 61 requires and assemble the papers at the end.

2. Gather proof of birth and identity

   Section 61(3) of the Civil Rights Law requires a birth certificate or certified transcript for anyone born in New York, or a health department certificate that none exists. Courts also ask for proof of identity and address at the filing window.

3. Sign the petition in front of a notary

   The petition is verified, so it is signed before a notary public rather than at home. Court staff cannot notarize it or tell a petitioner what to write in it.

4. File the papers and pay or waive the fee

   Filing happens at the county clerk of the Supreme Court, a County Court clerk, or a NYC Civil Court clerk’s office. As of 2026 the fee is $210 in Supreme and County Court and $65 in NYC Civil Court, per the court system’s name change instructions. Many counties also accept the filing electronically through NYSCEF.

Filing fees, the RJI, and fee waivers

Only one fee is charged in a Supreme Court name change. The $210 index number fee is the filing fee; the Request for Judicial Intervention, the form that gets a judge assigned to the case, carries no fee in a name change matter, according to the Unified Court System’s name change instructions. NYC Civil Court does not use an RJI.

A petitioner without the money for court costs can ask for a fee waiver, which some courts still call poor person’s relief. The court system’s fee waiver page explains the application. A granted waiver removes the $210 or $65 court fee; it does not cover documents a petitioner has to obtain elsewhere before filing.

How the judge decides the petition

An ordinary adult name change involves no hearing notice to anyone. N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 62(3) states that outside two defined situations the court shall not require any other pre-hearing notice, and the same subdivision prohibits any court from requiring notice to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services, or successor agencies. Section 62(4) bars a court from requiring anyone else’s consent as a condition of granting the change or releasing certified copies.

The two exceptions are narrow. A petition to change a child’s name requires notice to both parents, or to the non-petitioning parent, and to any general guardian, under § 62(1). A petitioner currently incarcerated or under supervision for one of the violent or sex-offense felonies listed in § 62(2) serves notice on the district attorney of every county of conviction and on the sentencing court, not less than 60 days before the petition is heard unless the court shortens that period.

Section 63 sets the standard. If the court is satisfied that the petition is true and that there is no reasonable objection to the proposed name, it grants the order; for a child, it also has to find that the change substantially promotes the child’s interests. The order recites the petitioner’s date and place of birth and, for a New York birth, the birth certificate number, and it is entered and filed with the clerk of the petitioner’s county, or with the NYC Civil Court clerk when that court made the order.

Denials are uncommon and fact-specific. The Unified Court System’s guidance describes judges refusing petitions aimed at fraud, at evading law enforcement, or at escaping child support or debts, and petitions for a name that is offensive, misleading (a title such as Officer or Doctor), the name of a famous person, or the name of a company.

Sealing a name change for safety

Court files are public by default, which is the problem N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 64-a addresses. If the court finds that an open record would jeopardize the petitioner’s personal safety based on the totality of the circumstances, it seals the proceeding, on request or on its own motion, and the file can then be opened only by court order for good cause or at the petitioner’s request.

The statute names what counts. Totality of the circumstances includes the risk of violence or discrimination, including status as transgender or as the subject of domestic violence, and § 64-a(1) bars a court from denying sealing solely because the petitioner has no history of specific threats. While the request is pending, subdivision 2 requires the court to safeguard the petitioner’s current name, proposed name, addresses, and telephone numbers from disclosure.

Using the signed order to update your records

The order does the work by itself. N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 64(3) provides that a name change order or other government-issued documentation of a name change is sufficient to change the petitioner’s name on any record issued or maintained by New York State or a subdivision of it, or by any private entity, naming school records for current and past students, archival records, and marriage certificates. Archival records that cannot be accessed, or whose modification other law bars, are carved out.

Refusal carries a consequence. Under the same subdivision, a public or private entity that will not honor the order may be violating Executive Law § 296 and Civil Rights Law § 40-c, which supports a complaint to the New York State Division of Human Rights. Petitioners generally buy several certified copies from the clerk at entry, because most agencies keep the copy they are given. Copy rules are set record by record: who may order a New York death certificate, for instance, is limited to applicants with a documented tie to the decedent or the estate, while a name change order is the petitioner’s own record to request.

Some records have their own forms regardless of the order. A vehicle title reissued in a new name runs through the DMV paperwork described in transferring a car title in New York, not through a blanket records update.

Federal records move on their own timetable. The Social Security Administration treats a name change as a request for a replacement Social Security card, handled online in some cases and by appointment otherwise, with the card mailed in 5 to 10 business days. Under § 64(2), the clerk mails a certified copy to the Division of Criminal Justice Services for petitioners convicted of the listed felonies, and a petitioner who owes court-ordered support is directed to mail the new name and certified order to the court that issued it.